Have you heard about this one? (obesity)

In my daily journey of radio listening this morning, I heard something
to the effect that a student’s BMI will be reported on his or her report
card as another weapon in the so called war on obesity. As usual, I place
myself firmly on the side of personal invasion of privacy. I’m not sure
where the original bill began; it may be a piece of state legislation or
perhaps a federal one. I’m adamantly opposed to such legislation as a
blanket solution. If zealots want that information on their personal report
cards, then fine, but keep it off my kids’ documents unless I request it in
writing, and, that the final document verifying my request is signed by me.

You see, there’s another twist in this perversion. Another news story
came on the heals of that one about how the US government was barking about
how obesity was overtaking smoking as the leading cause of death in the
country. Well as it turns out, that ain’t quite so. In fact, the stats were
placed significantly higher than actual occurrence. Hmm, makes you wonder,
doesn’t it? Who in the h*** can you believe any more?!

I gotta tell ya, it’s getting to the point where about the only one I’ll
believe is myself; and I know that’s dangerous, but too bad! It’s not that I
don’t care; rather it’s that I want my liberties, period, end of discussion!

Hmm, interesting; considering that one of our most “compassionate”
presidents recently came from Arkansas. I’m certainly not trying to get
political here, but I’ve said in the past that the ones that many people
vote for in hopes of getting their so called equality and rights, and
everything else that goes along with that, end up on the losing end of the
spectrum. Being a person of size isn’t politically correct, and it downright
“offends” some people; but heaven help anybody who dares speak out against
another lifestyle, especially in the same manner as is spoken out against
people of size. What if, for example, the government forces somebody to have
an HIV label stuck on their report card; or if you were forced to have some
indication that you’re blind – therefore you must be a flag for some massive
public notification of services, and, you have no choice as to what level or
quality of service you get. Pretty dangerous, eh?

As you should be! humiliation and intimidation have been psychological
weapons of control forever. It’s not right no matter what the circumstance
is. Explain to me why the h*** this business of a BMI indicator on
somebody’s report card is so necessary. It’s just another gateway for a
governmental or other agency to micromanage one’s personal life. There’s no
other explanation that I can see. You’re absolutely right; it’s not going to
help in the long run. It most likely will create the opposite result; so now
you’ve just aggravated the situation even more. I got royally p***** off
when all this nonsense started coming down over fast food chains. Hey, if I
want a super-size fry, that’s my business, period! It doesn’t go any further
than that. I spent money that I earned on that meal, and nobody’s going to
tell me otherwise. This may sound rather cold to some people out there, but
at this point I don’t care. I also realize that I may be preaching to the
choir here in this group, but I’m also beginning to think that
size-acceptance organizations are going to have to sharpen their teeth big
time and start making a h*** of a lot more noise than they are right now and
use a bit of psychological weaponry of their own to roll some things back;
and I sincerely do mean roll back, way way way back. Perhaps it’s a money
problem; so perhaps we need to figure out a way to fix that so they can be
better represented. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, and it’s about time the
wheels started squeaking loud and clear.

While I agree with that assessment, I can’t help thinking that if we
don’t somehow get some things in check, it’ll just delay the continued c***
they’ll have to put up with when they get out in the world. I certainly
don’t have all the answers, but something’s gotta give here somewhere.

How about suggesting that all politicians must put their BMI onto the
ballot, so that voters may, if they choose, vote for the thinnest
candidate. Also, if we believe that obesity is medically dangerous
and that forcing people to reveal their state of obesity will properly
motivate them to change their weight (which we all know is a matter of
choice, HA HA) then the politicians will gain personal experience
which they can apply to their policies in government so as to do the
most to improve general health.

Also the report card that includes the student’s BMI should also
include the name and BMI of the teacher and whatever management the
teacher reports to (Principal, Department Head, etc.)

That will have two effects.

First, if the parent or student disagrees with the grades and does not
get satisfaction from the teacher, they know immediately where to go.

Second, the teacher and the teacher’s manager will know exactly how
vulnerable one feels having one’s BMI displayed in this fashion, and
will thus know, from the most personal experience, exactly how to
manage this information in a constructive fashion.

If the teachers and politicians say “No!” we can ask them to explain
why they think revealing this information about vulnerable children
is correct, whereas revealing it about adults (who are considerably
less vulnerable) is … somehow not?

Think it would work?

Mary-Anne
@——————–

Mike tyo 2007-11-11 18:36:21

”Mary-Anne G. Wolf” commented and asked the following in
message news:csp1dm$krs$1@pcls4.std.com…

Well, perhaps it’d be worth trying. In my estimation, it would do two
things. Either these policies would be scrapped because most people in their
right mind, including politicians, wouldn’t want their personal data to show
up on a public document unless they’re weird zealots or something; or people
will simply “snap to it” and adhere to the policies in fear of being
punished by the concerned government of these policies.

Then there’s another little wrinkle that crops up most of the time in
these sorts of legislative ventures, and that is that if you’re on the right
side, or affiliated with the right party, you could take part in loopholes,
just as long as you enforce the policies on everybody else. Some would be
excluded for the smokescreen, and either you’re gonna be on the side that
takes the hit when it flops, or you’ll be elevated to some higher status in
the bureaucracy. It’s pretty sad, but unfortunately the way of the system.

I like your idea in principle though; and perhaps with the right leader
at the helm implementing it, it’s certainly doable.

Note that I say this as a non-parent who has never looked into the
matter in depth: I always wonder about the impact on the children’s
socialization. It always struck me that a significant number of people
I knew who grew up home-schooled had incredibly poor social skills and
themselves blamed the issue on their lack of public schooling when they
were younger. My data set for that observation is exceedingly small,
however, and thus highly ungeneralizable. What do parents who
home-school do to make sure that their kids are as thoroughly socialized
as other children their age, especially given how much socialization and
bonding occurs at school?

Ladyjane 2007-11-11 18:36:59

That’s interesting. The few home-schooled children that I have met in the
past were very well behaved and intelligent and well-versed for their age.
Home schooling doesn’t mean that the children stay home and never go out.
There are lots of home schoolers who get together with other home-schoolers
and go out to museums or other places. They socialize with each other.
The poorly socialized children that I meet are usually victims of the
public school system, where the cliques rule and the teachers do nothing
to prevent the everyday cruelty that ruins many childhood memories.
I envy you your schooling years, if you learned social skills and
actually bonded. I certainly didn’t. I’ve never gone back to a reunion
because those years were so horrendous that I’d do anything to forget
them.

Jane

Eva whitley 2007-11-11 18:37:04

Well, I *am* a parent, and what the home schoolers tell me is that they
enroll their kids in Scouts, etc. and that takes care of the socialization.

I’ve seen home schooled kids with perfectly acceptable social skills,
and I’ve seen ones unable to take turns, are impulsive, and have other
social skills problems.

I have issues with homeschooling so maybe I’m ignoring the kids who do
go to school who have impulse control issues, etc.
—
Eva Whitley qstew63512469@qis.net

Updates on Jack’s health at www.evawhitley.net. Keep the prayers and
good thoughts coming!

Tina marie 2007-11-11 18:37:15

The problem isn’t home-schooling – if parents value socialization of the
kids, it’s easy to find ways to get it. The problem is that the people
who choose home-schooling often do it to isolate the children from The
Evil In The World, and that generally also involves not allowing them to
interact with other children.

Tina Marie

Cynthia armist 2007-11-11 18:37:21

I’ve seen publicly and privately schooled kids who are impulsive and who
have poor social skills, as well. There’s no “one true way” with regards
to education. What works for one family, or one particular child in one
family, will not work for every other child or family.

I am a homeschooling parent. My daughter is 14 and has been homeschooled
since 2000. She already had a pretty good start on social skills, but I
don’t think that had anything to do with school. She had a good start
before she ever went to a school, as she was born into our very close
family and surrounded by friends and family all her life. Her father and
I agreed before getting married that we would rear any children we had
to be good people who were pleasant company. We kept that goal in mind
even after our divorce, and still agreed on it when he died in 1999.

Katie takes five dance classes and three martial arts classes a week, as
well as being involved in Girl Scouts. Those activities wouldn’t
“socialize” her, though (well, Scouts could, to some extent). They do
allow her a chance to be around different people in different
situations, and to learn skills I certainly could not teach her.

She uses her social skills in our household, where she lives with me and
my two partners. She uses them with her extended family, visiting both
sets of grandparents as well as other relatives. She uses them within
her network of friends, especially with the band of roving teens who
land at our house for a few days at a time every few weeks, then move on
to their other homes (her included). She uses them with our neighbors,
people in our homeschooling group, our extended network of friends of
all ages, etc.

Is she typical? Are we? No, I don’t think she. We’re blessed. But we are
a homeschooling family, and we aren’t that unusual. One of the good
things about homeschooling is that it gives us more flexibility
regarding our time, so that we can do things like have a bunch of kids
over for days at a time. We can babysit a friend’s sick child at the
drop of a hat. We can go over and visit grandparents during the week.
Katie’s been able to do volunteer work at a hospice and elsewhere.

That flexibility is shared by all homeschooling families, and many do
use it in ways that enrich their lives. Homeschooling – at least, doing
so successfully – is a way of life as much as an educational philosophy.